Nervous Government censors phone text messages

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China has begun censoring billions of telephone text messages to ensure that people do not use the popular communication tool to undermine one-party rule.

The campaign, announced on Friday by the official New China News Agency, comes after text messages sent between China's nearly 300 million mobile phone users helped expose the national cover-up of the SARS epidemic last year. Text messages have also generated popular outrage about corruption and abuse cases that received little attention in the state-controlled media.

It is a sign that while China has embraced internet and mobile phone technology, the Government has also substantially increased its surveillance of digital communications and adopted methods to prevent people from getting unauthorised information about sensitive subjects.

Last week, government officials began making daily inspections of short-message service providers, including websites and leading mobile companies. They had already fined 10 providers and forced 20 others to shut down for not policing messages, the news agency said.